OP,
Since your questions are noobish, I'mgoing to go all Yoda on you on this subject.
In answer to your questions, t's horses for courses. IF you deal with high income people in a good neighborhood, you have to keep it up to the competition so you get your share of rent for THAT neighborhood. In a ghetto area, your house doesn't need to go that premium with things inside.
For me, I bought a shithole and re-did the interior. I gutted it and put tiles that supermarkets use that are more resilient to scratching than consumer home stuff. In this manner I never deal with carpet, which usually you have to replace with every tenant or two.
If you go the carpet route, make sure to get CHEAP "Remnant Carpet". Call carpet stores to see if they carry remnant carpet options and their prices. Depending on their samples and how much sq. ft. they carry it can be really cheap. Don't take any premium remnant since the tenant will trash it anyway! Take the CHEAPEST decent looking remant. IF you're keeping the carpet, hire a a Pro cleaner and charge it as "Move Out Cleaning Fee" out of the tenants deposit. Same goes for whole unit "Move-Out Cleaning" service (espeically kitchen/bathroom/yard). You can find all these guys on Yelp. Go for the highest ratings as their service is not only better but their prices are fair too, otherwise they wouldn't get 5*!
But I do advise you to put tiles down as supermarket tiles are generally "nuclear proof" (ONLY ASK for industrial flooring samples--they make them quite aesthetic and OUTLAST any laminate flooring by far!!). In the long run, it'll EASILY pay for itself and save you money/time (buy extra tiles and keep them in your garage in case you need replacing one--floor models change all the time so buy a few extra--it's cheap!). Look ONLY at discount tile stores like LumberLiquidators and such for the best "garage sale" prices--negotiate discounts by just asking (it'll be cheaper than HD/Lowes crap--these stores ALSO have their own installer references and they'll be also cheaper/more pro than HD's low level installers, especially when you negotiate them against each other after they visit & quote you). Plus tiles looks more premium than carpet and attract better tenants that would otherwise shy away. I always get really motivated applications for my units b/c they look so great. That means less lost revenue from the place being empty on the calendar. Only advertise on Craiglist WITH photos instead of the newspaper and state in BOLD UNDERLINE "Minimum 3x Income" to FILTER lower income people that always pay late or need to eventually evict (which is thousands/costly). Try to land a State/Federal worker as their pay is stable and AVOID Section 8 riff raff and govt. tenancy rules/inspections. Try to land a TWO income couple so that the 2nd income can cover their Cost of Living if one of them loses their job.
As for holes in the wall and paint, you should learn how to do this yourself. After all, you're just patching cardboard. Any Youtube video will teach you. It's brain dead simple! Same with paint. Just paint over the scratches/holes. Use a more "standard" color paint from Kelly Moore which'll be cheaper than custom color (open a business acct with them to get the BEST discounts!--MUCH, MUCH cheaper than HD/Lowes!!). They'll have a history in your acct. of what paint you used in the past for future jobs and will make you a batch quickly). For a $20 can you should cover all major eye sores from a tenant move-out. IF you need to paint the WHOLE interior, it'll take 2 weekends for one side of a duplex for instance. OTOH, Hiring painters will be EXPENSIVE! Get quotes but you'll see it's better to do it yourself. I painted my interiors myself (including kitchen cabinets/closets). With an extra person it goes WAY FASTER! Heck, hire one of the dudes in front of HD to help you paint--they're more reliable/harder working than a flake on Craiglist!
Within a short day, you should be able to paint/patch a tenant move-out. I charge for damaged holes (i.e. albeit NOT picture frame nail holes as that's wear & tear) out of the tenants deposits and the paint I cover myself as it's normal wear and tear. Little things like this that AESTHETICALLY TRICK the casual eye enough to get future applicants to say "this shit looks nice"--nothing more, nothing less.
Also keep in mind that tenants make more of an effort to keep it nice and clean when the place looks nice. If it's a shithole, you'll attract like-for-like applicants who'll treat it like a shithole and the rent you get will be less and go for MORE repairs the NEXT go around. You invest more into it, you'll get better tenants, more rents and less future repairs. When interviewing tenant with children, check the kids out for hyperactivity (i.e. more damage potential). Same with dogs. If it means waiting weeks for the RIGHT tenant to pop up, then do it as it'll save you headaches/stress/future repairs--don't get desperate--places always rent out!
The only reason you should hire a handyman for this simple stuff is that you are too busy and too inconvenient for you. Otherwise learn to be a MAN and do it yourself. Take a radio with you (with podcast/audio books/music) and you can do everything in a jiffy. From those THOUSANDS you save from doing as much as you can yourself you'll have for a nicer hotel on vacation or whatever.
Hopefully you evolve a temperament for this business and dealing with problem renters (this is directly proportional to WHO you choose to rent out to--follow my tenant advice above). If you have no stomach for it, hand it over to a Management Co. who'll do this headache stuff for you and just send you the monthly check. I do all of it myself. I had to do an eviction on my 2nd tenant. That was fucking stressful and almost called it quits! But I developed a thick skin and now I don't fuck around. Business is business. No fucking excuses or the threatening "Pay or Quit" legal letters go out. It's mechanical. It's math. You'll quickly know if a tenant is sincere or a bullshitter and to call them out on it. Try to PUSH YOURSELF to keep at this business and gain experience. The money will definitely help your retirement(!!)--much better than BONDS & a good counter-balance to stock volatility!! Try to grab more than 6+ rents for your portfolio. It's EASY money for the amount of work you put in (or the management co.). Plus it's tax deductible!
Also....make sure the roof is in good condition or tenants will call you in the middle of the night that water from a torrential rain is leaking from above (personal experience). You may have to spend $10k on this but it's worth it! Also pay for gutter cleaning once a year and do a Lint cleaning of the dryer ducts with a professional (see Yelp)--this can prevent a future fire! You have NO IDEA how much lint collects in those ducts. It's astonishing! Also charge EXTRA if the tenant goes over the water limit cap you set per month. Hopefully the unit has its own meter and they can pay for their own water instead of you. ALSO increase your Umbrella Liability insurance to protect your assets. And once you get a portfolio of units, do an LLC for extra protection (not really needed for one unit)--this is standard protocol for ANY investment property owner!